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GLOBAL MARKETS: Branson’s Galactic pitch

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic plans to go public via a New York cash shell led by former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya

11 July 2019 - 05:00

NEW SPACE: Virgin Galactic, which aims to take passengers into space, said on Tuesday that it would merge with Social Capital Hedosophia, which is publicly traded in New York. Picture: BLOOMBERG/CHRIS RATCLIFFE

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic plans to go public via a New York cash shell led by former Facebook executive Chamath Palihapitiya. The company, with an enterprise value of $1.5bn, would open space to more investors and to "thousands of new astronauts", Branson said. The cash shell, Social Capital Hedosophia, raised $700m and was pitched as a way to bring tech companies to the market without the hassle of an IPO.

Financial Times

Deutsche cuts

In its latest efforts to restructure itself, Deutsche Bank is laying off 18,000 staff, a fifth of its workforce. Essentially a local bank that tried to become (and for a while became) a global investment bank, Deutsche never recovered from the 2008 financial crisis. Now, after a decade of scandals, fines and a falling share price, it has decided to go back to its old-fashioned business of helping small and medium-sized German businesses. It is sticking about $300bn in risky assets into a so-called "bad bank".